Companies House: Forms

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to prevent inaccurate information on the names of company directors being submitted to Companies House as part of fraudulent actions.

Baroness Wilcox: The Government currently have no plans to change Companies House's procedures for submission of documents giving company directors' details.
	Companies House has no means of validating this information without substantially delaying the incorporation of a company, or delaying the registration of the appointment of new directors, and this is against the Government's policy of making it easier and quicker to both incorporate a limited company in the UK and make available company information.
	Any reporting of suspected fraud is looked at on a case by case basis, with legal remedies available through the police and the Insolvency Service's Companies Investigation Team.

Energy: Green Deal

Lord Glentoran: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that Green Deal assessors have no commercial ties to any other party or products in the supply chain.

Lord Marland: The impartiality of Green Deal assessors is enshrined in the Energy Bill. The code of practice the Government will put in place will require that assessors recommend only the installation of measures that are appropriate for a property. It will also compel assessors to disclose any commercial affiliations or other potential conflicts of interest.

Exports

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how the Home Office intends to develop exports with competitive technological and commercial capabilities.

Baroness Browning: I refer the noble Lord to the Answer given by my noble friend Lady Wilcox on 22 June (Official Report, col. WA 304).

Female Genital Mutilation

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to prepare a strategy on female genital mutilation; and, if so, what arrangements they will put in place to fund such a strategy and to co-ordinate it across government.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to reinstate the role of female genital mutilation co-ordinator; and, if so, when.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what they are doing to encourage awareness of and debate on female genital mutilation.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote outreach in communities regarding female genital mutilation.

Baroness Browning: The Government are absolutely committed to tackling and preventing female genital mutilation (FGM). There are no plans for a separate government strategy, as tackling FGM is a key part of the Government's integrated approach to ending violence against women and girls. The Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls: Action Plan, which was published earlier this year, includes commitments to:
	develop learning programmes for the police on FGM;support community engagement work to tackle FGM;develop guidelines on FGM for prosecutors; andreview the multi-agency guidelines on FGM.
	To meet these commitments, the work of the FGM co-ordinator is being continued by a steering group made up of the relevant departments, including the Home Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for Education, Department for International Development and Department of Health. As a result, we have made significant progress in raising awareness of FGM and supporting professionals to intervene. For example, more than 40,000 leaflets and 40,000 posters have been circulated to schools, health services, charities and community groups around the country, and we have established a regular forum for the voluntary and community sector to raise concerns with the Government.
	This forum is also used to map community engagement work and identify best practice. In addition, the new multi-agency practice guidelines are helping to ensure that professionals are able and confident to intervene to protect girls at risk.

Government: Ministerial Meetings

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Browning on 17 May (WA 301) and 14 July (WA 206), whether they will place in the Library of the House a schedule of all meetings held by Home Office ministers with (a) the Mayor of London or the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, and (b) the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, including (1) the dates of the meetings, (2) their duration, and (3) those present.

Baroness Browning: Ministers do not routinely place records of their meetings in the House Library. I refer the noble Lord to my Answer to his previous Question of 14 July 2011 (Official Report, col. WA 206) and my letter to him dated 29 July 2011, both on this issue.

Immigration

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many illegal immigrants were known to be in the United Kingdom in April 2011; and how much was paid to illegal immigrants in benefits in (a) 2010-11, and (b) 2009-10.

Baroness Browning: It is not possible accurately to quantify the number of illegal immigrants in the UK as some deliberately evade immigration control in order to remain in the country illegally.
	No benefits are paid to illegal immigrants. However, destitute asylum seekers and destitute failed asylum seekers receive support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 if they meet the set criteria.

Immigration

Lord Tebbit: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in limiting immigration.

Baroness Browning: The Government have committed to making changes across the immigration system to achieve their overall aim of reducing net migration. We are taking action to tighten our migration system across all entry routes for non-EEA migrants-work, students and family-and to break the link between temporary routes and permanent settlement.
	We have made changes to the rules governing the admission of skilled workers, including an annual limit on tier 2 workers, a higher skills requirement and the closure of tier 1 general. These changes were made in HC 863. Secondly, we have announced changes to the student visa route and have begun to implement them through HC 908 and HC 1148. These include a tightening of the regime for licensing colleges which sponsor foreign students, restrictions on the entitlement of students (and the right to work) and closure of the post study work route from April 2012.
	We are also presently consulting on family migration, employment-related settlement, tier 5, and overseas domestic workers.

Migrant Workers: Bulgarians and Romanians

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Written Answer by Baroness Browning on 14 July 2011 (WA 211), which of the work authorisation categories presently applied to Bulgarian and Romanian workers under European Union accession treaty rules continue or cease to be applied to such workers once they have been working in the United Kingdom for a year; how many workers applying in each category had their initial applications refused last year; and, when they expect the Migration Advisory Committee to report on its review of the case for maintaining the restrictions until 2013.

Baroness Browning: As the terms of the accession treaty require, Bulgarian or Romanian workers cease to be subject to any restrictions on access to the labour market if they work legally and without interruption for a period of 12 months as the holder of an accession worker card in any of the categories specified in Schedule 1 to the Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) Regulations 2006. There were 3,260 applications for accession worker cards for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals in 2010, of which 210 were refused in respect of workers requiring a work permit and 248 refused in respect of the other categories of employment for which an accession worker card may be issued.
	The Migration Advisory Committee has been asked to report to the Home Secretary by October 2011 in connection with the case for maintaining labour market restrictions on nationals of Bulgaria and Romania.

People Trafficking

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase public awareness of the effects of trafficking in people.

Baroness Browning: The Government's new strategy on human trafficking sets out our commitment to exploring what further role the public can play in identifying information about trafficking and how we can raise public awareness and increase vigilance.
	We will continue to work with non-governmental organisations to develop plans to increase public awareness and understanding of human trafficking

People Trafficking

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will take steps to ensure that the national referral mechanism includes in its remit the needs of trafficked persons aged under 18 who reach the United Kingdom.

Baroness Browning: The national referral mechanism (NRM) has since its creation on 1 April 2009 considered trafficked persons aged under 18 as part of its remit. In its first 24 months of operation, almost 400 potential child trafficking cases were referred to expert decision-makers by designated front-line agencies. This has enabled many more child victims than ever before to be identified and receive tailored support. We have recently added Barnardo's and the NSPCC's Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line to the list of designated front-line agencies that can refer potentially trafficked children into the NRM which will help ensure child victims are identified and receive that support.

People Trafficking

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proposals they have for making measures to prevent human trafficking equally effective in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Baroness Browning: The Government published their UK-wide strategy on human trafficking on 19 July 2011. The strategy has a strong focus on increasing prevention, alongside improving support for victims.
	While immigration is a reserved matter, law enforcement is devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Her Majesty's Government works closely with the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure a joined-up approach to tackling human trafficking across the UK.

People Trafficking

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will appoint a co-ordinator for victims of human trafficking in each region or jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, tasked with providing specialised services.

Baroness Browning: Support for victims of human trafficking is a devolved matter.
	Co-ordination of specialist support for human trafficking victims is already undertaken by the Salvation Army in England and Wales, the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) Project and Migrant Helpline in Scotland, and Migrant Helpline in Northern Ireland.

People Trafficking

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent increased prostitution before and after the 2012 Olympic Games, including greater human trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Baroness Browning: We are aware that in the run-up to 2012 criminals may seek to profit from the Games by increasing their activities, including in relation to prostitution and trafficking.
	We are assessing the threat on a quarterly basis. We will continue to remain vigilant and deploy our resources to tackle trafficking abroad, at the border and in country both before and during the Games.
	A specialist unit in the Metropolitan Police has received extra funding from the Migration Impact Fund to prioritise activities to disrupt prostitution and support victims, including victims of human trafficking, in the five Olympic boroughs.